


Hands Off

by literaryempress



Category: How to Get Away with Murder
Genre: Consent Issues, F/F, Friendship/Love, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Harassment, House Party, Non-Consensual, Non-Consensual Touching, Party, Partying, Protective Laurel Castillo, Relationship(s), Sexual Harassment, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-23 19:54:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8340559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literaryempress/pseuds/literaryempress
Summary: Laurel and Michaela take "costume is not consent" very seriously.Or the one where Laurel and Michaela attend a Halloween party, and Laurel sees a guy trying to get into Michaela's skirt.





	

“Michaela!” Laurel called from Michaela’s bathroom as she finished applying the final touches to her Halloween costume. Laurel had kept her costume a surprise from Michaela for a while now. Sure, being a vampire wasn’t the most original idea Laurel had in the books, but she had very elaborate designs that came out nicely in the end. So originality wasn’t that big of a situation here in terms of what she was actually going to be this year. “I need some help!”

“What is it?”

“I...I think I’m bleeding.”

Michaela is a person who shows her highest concerns for those who are in any form of pain. So when she hears that Laurel may potentially be hurt, she did nothing but run towards her bathroom from the kitchen to check the damage. “Oh, my God. Laurel, what happened?” The door was still closed, so Michaela couldn’t really see what Laurel was up to.

“I think I cut myself.”

“ _ Shit _ .” Michaela’s heart beat started to pick up a little, but she tried to hold it together as much as possible before she grabbed onto the door handle, preparing to step inside the room. “Well, let me come in and see if I can -”

All of a sudden, Laurel pounced out of the bathroom, her jaw covered in fake vampire blood and some fake fangs inside her mouth. Michaela yelped at the sight, which caused Laurel to laugh in response. However, Michaela wasn’t in the laughing mood - well, not now anyway; Laurel’s a firm believer in that Michaela will look back at this moment and laugh about it herself.

“Don’t scare me like that,” Michaela replied, lightly hitting Laurel on her bare arm.

Laurel shrugged, pacing around the petite woman. “It’s Halloween, Michaela. What did you expect?”

“Not for you to almost hurt your best friend’s feelings.”

Laurel inched an eyebrow at her. “So I’ve been demoted to best friend status?”

“I could do worse.”

“Of course you could.” She reached a hand up to Michaela’s bottom lip and let it linger there for a moment as Laurel got to observe Michaela’s outfit. She decided to go as the Queen of Hearts for Halloween and, like Laurel, she decided to make her costume this year her own. The sleeveless, velvet bodice was all black with some gold trimming along her low-cut, heart-shaped collar. Her black gloves were made of silk, opposite to the fabric she wore on the upper part of her body. Her skirt was a little short, but Laurel could trust that Michaela is confident in her own body enough to dress up to her desires. The red, white, and black skirt, like her bodice, had gold trimming on the ends, along with some black glitter hearts on the red flap, gold glitter hearts on the black flap underneath, and some red glitter hearts on the white flap. Her sheer pantyhoes had some three black hearts on her left thigh and three black hearts on her right leg. Michaela also had on black high heels with gold straps on her feet, along with a gold ankle bracelet on her left ankle. To finish off the look, she had put on a gold and red heart necklace around her neck.

Michaela looked beautiful. Actually, to Laurel, she looked beautiful every day, but tonight, she looked like an actual queen.

“You could do a lot worse,” Laurel stated a little lowly, her other hand sliding close to Michaela’s legs underneath her skirt. Unfortunately, Michaela had already stepped back before she could do anything.

“After the party, Bloody Mary.”

“Why?” Laurel moaned.

“Because we can’t just let people know that we’ve been screwing each other before the party even began.”

“I won’t make it too obvious or anything.” Michaela inched an eyebrow at her before she turned on her heel and walked into the kitchen. Laurel followed closely behind. “Besides, I’m not Bloody Mary, for your information. I’m a vampire.”

Michaela scoffed. “You could have fooled me.”

“And there’s one thing this vampire craves more than blood.”

“Which she’ll have to wait for,” Michaela added, “because we’re already close to being late.” Michaela turned back around and finished putting all of the Halloween cookies inside the container she planned to bring to the party. She could faintly hear Laurel pout behind her, and Michaela thought it was the funniest yet cutest sound Laurel could ever make.

Believe it or not, Michaela’s actually excited for tonight. She’s been excited for weeks. The last time she’s been able to relax and let go was around homecoming week at Middleton University, and she didn’t even get a chance to go all out like she was doing tonight. Truth be told, to Michaela, these homecoming events weren’t all that great, either, for the frat boys - and Asher Millstone - were completely obnoxious around that time of year. The party she and Laurel were going to may be a little loud, but it’s Halloween, practically everyone’s favorite time of year. Letting loose around Halloween time couldn’t hurt, could it?

Michaela placed the container of cookies in the crook of her arm and turned her head around to face Laurel. “Ready to go?”

“Yep,” Laurel replied, heading over to the couch, grabbing something off the seat cushion as she turned back around in Michaela’s direction, “except you forgot one thing.”

Michaela’s scepter. It was as gold as the trimmings on her dress, and the top of it looked like a miniature crown, decorated with rhinestones on the metal.

“And your crown,” Laurel added after handing Michaela the scepter, delicately holding the gold crown in both hands as she brought it to the top of Michaela’s head. Once it was secure on top of her head, Laurel brought her hands to Michaela’s hair, getting some of the soft curls out of the way so she could see Michaela’s full costume with her accessories. She smiled. “All ready to go, Your Highness.”

Michaela smiled back before her eyes fell to Laurel’s vampire costume. Laurel elected to wear red and black. Her dress was short like Michaela’s was, although the skirt wasn’t too detailed aside from the red rhinestones and glitter on it. Laurel also had on a black and red cape over her shoulders. It wasn’t much to cover her arms in the October weather, but neither were Michaela’s black gloves. Still, Laurel made the perfect vampire - fake blood, fangs, and all.

“Alrighty. Let’s go.”

* * *

There were more people at the party than both Laurel and Michaela expected, which is why Michaela was thankful for making as many cookies as she could. They ran into a few friends on their way inside the building: Connor and Oliver, both of them dressed up as the  _ Smooth Criminal _ and  _ Thriller _ versions of Michael Jackson respectively; Wes dressed up as Prince; and Asher dressed up as Freddy Krueger.

As the Keating Five and Oliver walked into the house where the party is held, they noticed that all of the ceiling lights had been turned off and the red and orange lights on the furniture and on the walls had been turned on. There was also a light-up disco ball above the center of the room somewhere, which made the perfect dance scene, along with the loud music vibrating against the walls. Everyone seemed to be having fun already, and the party barely started, which is what Laurel and Michaela especially liked.

Laurel linked her arm with Michaela’s as the two girls walked through the house to greet some people. Michaela turned in Laurel’s direction and noticed how close Laurel had her. “You scared of the dark or something?” Michaela called into Laurel’s ear, for the music and the people making noise around them made it hard for them to hear each other.

“There’s a lot of people here, Michaela,” Laurel explained, “and we’re gonna get lost in the crowd.”

She had a point. That, and both girls had on heels to go with their outfits, and they would rather use each other for stability than to leave each other behind and fall over their own two feet.

A few minutes passed, and Laurel and Michaela were already two alcoholic drinks in. They were having fun watching some folks play beer pong in the kitchen and seeing some of the other folks in their costumes scaring everybody else. The girls danced a little bit, holding onto each other in case one of them managed to slip, and they giggled a bit even when they did. They probably looked like big ass kids getting off a roller coaster and almost tripping over the flat surface because the ride made them dizzy. Neither of them cared at this point. They were having fun, and nothing could possibly ruin that.

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom,” Laurel whispered into Michaela’s ear. However, the music was still loud around them, so Michaela had a hard time of hearing her.

“What?” Michaela called over the music.

“I said I’m going to the bathroom,” Laurel repeated herself, gesturing towards the bathroom door somewhere on the other side of the room.

“TMI!” Michaela shouted with a smile on her face.

“You asked!” Laurel replied with a matching grin, carefully making her way across the room without tripping over the other party guests.

Once Laurel was inside, she carried on with her business, washing her hands afterwards before she reapplied some of her makeup. The fake vampire blood stayed on her face, but some of her eye makeup got a little smeared due to the heat in the room and Laurel having to wipe the corners of her eyes.

This was the most fun she and Michaela ever had since the semester started, and Laurel didn’t want it to end. Eventually the two of them and the other Keating Five members would have to get back to work on Monday like it’s not Halloween day or anything like that - why Halloween had to fall on a Monday this year, Laurel didn’t know and she also didn’t like it. Still, though, Laurel wanted more opportunities to be with Michaela, whether it’s during an outing like this one or just helping each other study in Michaela’s apartment. It didn’t matter what they would be doing, but every second would be worth just seeing Michaela.

By the time Laurel finished applying her makeup, she walked right back out of the bathroom to join the rest of the party people. The room was a little brighter, thanks to whoever turned on some more party lights, but it wasn’t enough to spot Michaela in the room full of drunk, sweaty people.

And then, just when Laurel was about to head towards the stairway, Laurel spotted Michaela from the corner of her eye. Only this time, she wasn’t alone; she was with a guy, and it wasn’t Wes, Connor, Oliver, or Asher, either. Neither Michaela nor Laurel knew who this person was, but Laurel could tell he was a little older than Michaela judging by his face and his form. He also had more alcohol in his system, which didn’t sit well with Laurel. From the look on Michaela’s face, and her constantly trying to move away every time the guy tried touching her, Laurel knew she was being harassed.

_ No _ , Laurel thought, anger seeping into her veins. This could not be happening.

“Come on, babe.” His voice was a little slurred as he took a drunken step towards Michaela. The smile that appeared on his face made Michaela uncomfortable. “Live it up a little. Come party with Daddy Jake.”

Michaela already wanted to puke. Who was this guy even thinking?

“I’m with someone tonight.”

“Who? Is he taller than me?”

“No. In fact,  _ she’s _ shorter than you, but she will not hesitate to kick your ass.”

The guy - Jake - started to laugh, as if he didn’t already get the memo that Michaela didn’t want his drunk ass. “There’s two of you? Holy shit. That sounds like a party.”

Michaela scoffed in disgust. It was bad enough that this guy actually called himself Daddy Jake when he’s drunk, but he apparently doesn’t care if he’s fucking two girls at the same time, either, and Michaela didn’t want her and Laurel to get caught up in that.

Speaking of Laurel, where was she? Michaela glanced around the room, trying to find any sight of a vampire in a black and red dress, but Michaela couldn’t see too well in the dark house with all of the people standing around them.

Suddenly, Michaela felt a hand snake around her waist, and before she knew what was going on, Jake had tugged her close to him. Michaela tried to free herself, but Jake had a firm hold onto her. Maybe Jake wasn’t as drunk as Michaela predicted - or maybe he is, and he just has added strength with he’s drunk. Either way, Michaela wanted out of here already.

“Why - why are you so uptight? It’s a party. Have some fun.”

“This is sexual harassment,” Michaela started, “and I’ll have you know I can address this to the Dean and have your ass kicked off this campus if you don’t -”

“Hey!” Michaela heard a familiar shout across the room. Laurel took a while to actually get towards the kitchen again, but when she finally made it over, Michaela could see the anger spread all over Laurel’s face at the sight of Jake. “Are you fucking death,  _ hijo de puta _ ? Let her go before I make you.”

Jake had that lazy grin on his face that Laurel wanted to punch right off. “You didn’t tell me your girlfriend was a feisty one, did ya?” Jake asked Michaela, his lips hovering over Michaela’s head. Michaela could smell the mixture of alcohol and sandwich meat on his breath, and if she didn’t want to vomit before, she certainly did now.

“I’ve had enough of this,” Michaela stated, pushing Jake’s arm away from her as she tried to leave. “Get off of me.”

“Babe, come on -”

“I said get off!”

“That’s it.” Laurel gritted her teeth as she stormed over to Jake and pulled him away from Michaela using all the force she had in her. Jake had gotten a little furious by what Laurel was doing, so he started to turn around and swing a hand at her face. However, before his hand made contact with Laurel’s face, Michaela had punched Jake in the face and sent him flying to the ground.

As a team, Laurel and Michaela kicked Jake a couple of times, earning a bunch of shouts and whatnot around them before the two girls made their way out of the house to get some fresh air.

* * *

“I never want to go to a campus party again,” Michaela ranted as she carefully yet angrily walked down the steps. Laurel could understand her anger. To tell the truth, as much as she loved going to parties and having fun, they had their moments where parties just got out of hand. After seeing Michaela having to deal with Jake back there, Laurel didn’t even want to think about what would have happened if it had gotten worse than that.

“Like, what is it with guys and getting so drunk to the point where they’ve lost respect for everyone around them?” Michaela continued. “It’s like the rules don’t apply to them and that they’ve lost track of their own home training.”

“And they’re the ones who say _guys will be guys_ , right?”

Michaela shook her head - not because Laurel was wrong, but because her night had been ruined within a few seconds. Laurel didn’t like seeing her like this. She should have to be like this - not on a night that’s supposed to be a fun night, a night that’s supposed to be hers. Michaela didn’t deserve that. She didn’t deserve drunk guys touching her when she didn’t want to be touched. She didn’t deserve to suffer because things told to guys go in one ear and out the other.

The petite woman hugged herself a little tighter, for the weather started to change a little bit and neither she nor Laurel were wearing any sleeves. Laurel sighed and stepped down the rest of the steps until she and Michaela were standing side by side. Laurel took a handful of her cape and brought it around Michaela’s shoulders in an attempt to keep her warm.

“I’m sorry your night turned into total shit, alright?” Laurel asked, hugging Michaela a little bit for comfort.

Michaela sighed. “You don’t have to apologize for that.”

“I know I don’t,” Laurel explained, “but I want to. I just want you to be okay.”

Michaela turned her head towards Laurel and smiled a little, hugging Laurel back. “I am okay. Just...pissed, for a lack of a better word.”

Laurel nodded, and for the next couple of seconds, the two of them stood there like that until Laurel spoke up again. “You know, we don’t need this party to have fun.”

“Then what would be the purpose of dressing up anyways?”

“For ourselves?” Michaela then knew that Laurel had a point. “Look, we can...go to the store and buy a gigantic bag of candy and some more cookie-baking supplies,” Laurel continued, “and then we can go back to your place and bake some more cookies while we watch some shitty horror movies. At least there, some gross college boy won’t be grabbing your ass.”

Michaela giggled a little bit. “Emphasis on _boy_.” She paused and then added, “Did you know he called himself Daddy Jake?”

Laurel scoffed. “Ew, gross.”

“Yeah, and he supposedly has a lesbian couple kink or something -”

“Stop. I can feel my lunch coming back up.” The girls started to laugh a little bit, and as their laughter died down, Laurel turned to Michaela and smirked. “Did you just confirm that we’re an official couple?” Michaela playfully rolled her eyes as Laurel stood face to face with her. “Like, an  _ out in the open _ kind of couple? Is this real life right now?”

“Oh, God,” Michaela replied, but she couldn’t hide the growing smile on her face.

“Does this mean I get to move all of my stuff into your apartment now?”

“Baby steps.” She stared straight ahead at Laurel and simply smiled. “But yes. It’s official.” Laurel’s smile grew even more just to hear those words come out of her girlfriend’s mouth.

The two of them were about to head back to the car to do just as Laurel suggested when they heard the house door open. Oliver had stepped out to get some fresh air and to find the girls, only to see them crossing the street towards Laurel’s car. “Hey!” he called, and Laurel and Michaela turned their heads. “Are you guys okay?” he asked, a little concerned. “I heard about what happened inside, and -”

“We’re fine, Oliver,” Michaela confirmed. “We’re just...heading back home now.”

“We’re heading to a different party instead,” Laurel called to him, “but you and Connor have fun.”

“Thanks,” Oliver replied with a smile on his face as started to turn back around to the front door. “See you later, guys.”

“Bye!” Both girls called to him as Oliver entered the house once again. By the time he was gone, Michaela turned her head in Laurel’s direction and asked, “What party is this again?”

“Like you don’t know.”

“Laurel -”

“I mean, it’s not a complete lie, now is it?” Laurel asked, inching her eyebrow at Michaela and causing her to laugh. “And it’s a No Guys Allowed party, too, so we should be in the clear.”

“You mean a No Guests Allowed party?”

“Aren’t I a guest in your apartment, though?”

“Of course not,” Michaela asked, opening the passenger door and taking a seat inside the car. Laurel hopped into the driver’s seat and closed the door before she buckled in her seat belt. “I grant you full access to my kingdom.”

“Your  _ queendom _ ?”

Michaela giggled, closing the passenger door. “Of course.”

“So do I get the password to the entrance, too?” Laurel asked, turning on the ignition.

Michaela laughed as she finished buckling her seat belt. Laurel began to drive off as she replied, “We’ll have to wait and see about that.”

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if I made it clear in this story at all, but in case anyone's wondering, Laurel and Michaela have been kinda secret before the declaration of their actual relationship near the end. I wanted to add this just in case it wasn't clear to anyone.
> 
> A part of me isn't sure whether this was even good or not, either, because this is my first Laurel/Michaela story - and my first f/f story, too - and it might feel a little rushed? I'm not sure. But still, leave kudos and tell me what you all thought of it. I'm actually kinda shocked that this fandom doesn't have more fics for Laurel and Michaela tbh because they would be so awesome. And I hope everyone has a good day/night. Happy reading. <3


End file.
